'Vehicular Terrorist' Denied Lower Bond

Bond Will Stay At $81,500 For A Tavares Man, Whose Driving Record Includes Killing A Motorist.

March 15, 1997|By Frank Stanfield of The Sentinel Staff

TAVARES — A man labeled by a judge as a ''vehicular terrorist'' for a driving record that includes killing another motorist failed Friday to get his $81,500 bond reduced on new driving charges.

Terry Eddie Jenkins is charged with driving with a permanently revoked license, as well as escape, resisting arrest without violence, petty theft and criminal mischief.

Lake Circuit Judge Jerry Lockett refused to lower the bond, set originally by Lake County Judge Donna Miller, who classified Jenkins as a threat to society.

Jenkins' attorney, Mike Hatfield, argued that the bond should have been lowered to $10,000.

''He has never failed to appear,'' Hatfield said.

He suggested that the court could impose restrictions, such as community control. Someone could drive him to his job as a diesel mechanic at a truck stop, Hatfield said.

Assistant State Attorney Sue Purdy, however, argued against lowering the bond.

''He has been labeled a 'vehicular terrorist' by Lake County Judge (Richard) Boylston. He is a threat to the community,'' she said.

She argued that Jenkins, who has faced more than 30 charges stemming from his driving, ''flaunts'' the law.

''He has, not just once, but twice driven when his license has been revoked permanently,'' she said.

Also on hand for Friday's bond reduction hearing was a woman who has vowed to be Jenkins' ''worst nightmare'' every time he comes to court.

Ginger Bonnay lost her brother, Raymond Newell, 41, when Jenkins' vehicle collided with Newell's in 1991. Jenkins' license was suspended at the time.

''It has been six years since my brother was killed. I don't even know how many times I have been here,'' she said of her courthouse appearances.

In January 1996, Boylston held up Jenkins' five-page court record when he appeared in his courtroom with a second DUI charge.

A year later, Jenkins was in trouble again. Sheriff's deputies said they stopped Jenkins in a 1983 pickup truck near his parents' home in Grand Island. They handcuffed him and put him in the back seat of a patrol car.

While deputies were preparing paperwork and inspecting the pickup, Jenkins removed a plexiglass partition in the back of the patrol car and escaped. Deputies said they ended up charging Jenkins with petty theft when he refused to say where he put the handcuffs.

''There was no evidence alcohol was involved in this case,'' Hatfield said. He said Jenkins was being ''punished'' with a high bond because of the emotion associated with Newell's death.